Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his timetable is for announcing the (a) membership and (b) terms of reference of the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
While the Government's immediate focus is on protecting the lives and livelihoods of the nation, there is nonetheless the need to mourn those who have died, and to mark and remember this period as one of immense struggle.
The Prime Minister announced on 12 May that the Government will establish a UK Commission on COVID Commemoration to consider the appropriate way to remember those who have lost their lives and to recognise those involved in the unprecedented response. The Government will set out the Commission membership and terms of reference in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to Answer of 27 May 2021 to Question 6457 on Department of Work and Pensions: Correspondence, when data on the timeliness of responses to hon. Members from Government departments and agencies will be made available to hon. Members.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Further to the answer to PQ6450 on 27 May 2021, we expect this data to be released and made available to members ahead of Parliament rising for Summer recess.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of correspondence sent by hon. Members to his Department received a substantive response within the service standard in each month of (a) 2018, (b) 2019 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government recognises the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence.
The Cabinet Office is currently compiling data on the timeliness of responses to Hon. and Rt Hon. members from Government Departments and Agencies. This data will be released, and made available to Members, in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of correspondence sent by hon. Members to the Prime Minister's office received a substantive response within the service standard in each month of (a) 2018, (b) 2019 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government recognises the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence.
The Cabinet Office is currently compiling data on the timeliness of responses to Hon. and Rt Hon. members from Government Departments and Agencies. This data will be released, and made available to Members, in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 10 November 2020 on Islamophobia.
Answered by Boris Johnson
My Office has no record of receiving this letter. I have asked my Office to contact the Hon Member’s Office to re-send the correspondence and arrange for a reply to be sent.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the recommendations of the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union's report entitled, The Shape of Future Parliamentary Scrutiny of UK-EU Relations, published on 14 January 2020, what steps his Department is taking to ensure effective future scrutiny of the UK-EU relationship.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government will be responding to the report in due course.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishes a set of committees to oversee its operation.
We are committed to facilitating parliamentary scrutiny of our new relationship with the EU as we do with other international agreements.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many political adverts were placed on online without a digital imprint during the 2019 General Election.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The government does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government response to the Protecting the Debate: Intimidation, Influence and Information consultation, published May 2019, for what reasons the Government has not yet brought forward proposals to introduce a new digital imprint regime.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to implementing an imprints regime for digital election material. This will ensure greater transparency and make it clearer to the electorate who has produced and promoted online political materials.
The Government is planning to bring forward the technical proposal on the regime and further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to extend the digital imprint requirement to all online campaign materials.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to implementing an imprints regime for digital election material. This will ensure greater transparency and make it clearer to the electorate who has produced and promoted online political materials.
The Government is planning to bring forward the technical proposal on the regime and further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to create a publicly available online database of political adverts.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Whilst there are no current plans for a database of online political adverts, we are taking action to increase transparency of wider political advertising online, such as by introducing a digital imprints regime.
Online platforms should take responsibility for content posted on them, and we welcome the steps that several social media companies have taken to improve transparency of political advertisements on their platforms, including through the introduction of ad libraries.